Three months after he was knocked out cold by Sam Stout, the 35-year-old veteran asserted himself with a second-round TKO of Rafaello Oliveira.

The lightweight fight was the featured preliminary-card attraction at UFC on Versus 6, which took place today at Washington, D.C.’s Verizon Center. The prelims streamed on Facebook prior to the night’s Versus-televised main card.

Edwards set the end in motion with a right hook that caught the charging Oliveira’s temple. He quickly turned up the heat with punching combinations, but the Brazilian managed to escape – at first.

Measuring his strikes carefully, Edwards timed a head kick that put Oliveira on the canvas, and after his series of ultimately unnecessary punches from top position and back mount, referee Mario Yamasaki stepped in to end things at 2:44.

“I took a page from my last opponent and switched it up,” Edwards said.

The win gets Edwards (41-17-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) back in the win column while Oliveira (14-5 MMA, 1-4 UFC) goes 0-2 in his second UFC stint following a 1-2 run between 2009 and 2010.

“Ultimately, I’m just a guy fighting in front of crowd asking them to love him,” Edwards said afterward.

Sass scores slick submission win

Paul Sass kept his record undefeated with a first-round submission victory over fellow lightweight Michael Johnson.

After several awkward attempts, Sass got Johnson to play in his guard, where he worked for his vaunted triangle attempt. Johnson saw that coming, but he couldn’t free himself when the Brit seized his leg and began work on a heel hook.

Try as he might to roll free, Johnson was forced to give in at the three-minute mark when Sass adjusted the submission hold.

“I had it from one angle, and I remembered my coach explaining how to get it from another way,” the Brit said. “I locked it on that way instead, straightened it out, and he tapped.”

Johnson had landed a barrage of punches as he attempted to play matador early in the round. None of them, however, slowed Sass’ advance.

Sass (12-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) now boasts back-to-back wins in the octagon. He’s submitted all but one of his 12 opponents, and 10 of his 11 wins have come in the first round. “The Ultimate Fighter 12″ finalist Johnson (9-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC) is dangerously close to a pink slip.

Easton dazzles in UFC debut

Fired-up UFC newcomer Easton made the most of his octagon debut with an emphatic second-round TKO of fellow bantamweight newcomer Byron Bloodworth. The official end came at the 4:52 mark.

Easton, a local who by the audience’s reaction had sold half the tickets in Verizon Center, bullied Bloodworth from the outset while chasing the North Carolina native around the cage with hard punches and a chopping leg kick that altered the fight’s course.

By the second frame, Bloodworth was switching stances to protect his damaged lead leg. Easton seized the opportunity and secured a clinch against the fence, where he landed a knee that caused Bloodworth to clutch his face in pain. Follow-up knees to the body dropped Bloodworth, and Easton sealed the deal with a few punches.

“It feels absolutely unbelievable to finally be in the UFC, to debut here and get my first win here,” Easton said. “I’ve been dreaming about this since 17, and it finally happened. This is absolutely a dream come true, and the fans are in store for fights like that as long as I’m here.”

Grant earns controversial submission win

A brilliant display of grappling and counter-grappling between T.J. Grant and fellow lightweight Shane Roller met a controversial end when referee Fernando Yamasaki, the brother of veteran UFC referee Mario Yamasaki, interpreted a grunt from Roller as a tap-out.

Grant brilliantly segued into an armbar after catching the neck of the WEC veteran. Roller appeared caught, but when Yamasaki pried the two apart, he immediately protested the stoppage, which came at the 2:12 mark of the final frame.

The two had traded dominant positions on the mat throughout the affair in what was a spirited fight. A more svelte Grant displayed a marked improvement in his standup work, though jiu-jitsu served him best in the fight.

Grant gave Roller his due for a tough scrap but heard the grunt that caused the stoppage.

“I got it on him, he yelled, and the ref stopped it,” the Canadian vet said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Grant (16-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) has alternated wins with losses in seven UFC appearances. Roller (10-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC), meanwhile, has dropped two consecutive bouts, which included a brutal knockout loss at the hands of Melvin Guillard in his previous outing.

“I know the difference between a yell and a grunt; I know the rules,” Roller said. “I didn’t quit that fight. If I wanted to quit, I would have just tapped. The entire fight was just frustrating.”

Neer’s elbows lead to win

A vicious display of elbows in the clinch paved the way for Josh Neer’s first UFC win in two years.

Neer, who was released from the promotion in the fall of 2009 following back-to-back losses, severely damaged fellow UFC vet Keith Wisniewski with short, sharp elbows as the two welterweights repeatedly collided.

“I felt like I was physically stronger than him all night, especially in the clinch,” he said.

By the end of the second round, a gallery of cuts decorated Wisniewski’s face, and a mask of red blood covered him as Neer cranked on a choke.

The submission didn’t seal the deal, but the cageside doctor recommended the fight be stopped as Wisniewski sat on the stool.

Wisniewski had tried in the first frame to use his height and reach advantage to keep Neer at bay, but “The Dentist” continued to press and do damage. When he couldn’t get the fight to the ground, the damage continued.

Only the loss of Neer’s mouthpiece in the second round would stop his advance. A hard body shot in the first in which Neer was overheard complaining of broken ribs wouldn’t do it (and he denied ever saying such a thing).

Thankfully, a crafty UFC employeee retrieved the mouthpiece from below the metal grating outside the cage. Whether it was sanitary may have been a different matter.

Neer (32-10-1 MMA, 5-6 UFC) has now won five of his past six fights, and Wisniewski (28-13-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC) sees a six-fight win streak broken.

“I really thought the ref would have stopped it sooner since it was starting to look pretty bad in there,” Neer said. “[Keith] may not have been ready to be done tonight, but he’s going to feel pretty beat up tomorrow morning.”

The 5-foot-11 Watson planted a head kick on the 5-foot-7 Sandoval and chased down a TKO with follow up punches early in the first round. The official time of the stoppage was 1:17.

Watson (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) now has won eight of his past nine fights with five first-round finishes. Sandoval (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), meanwhile, suffers his first career loss in seven fights.

“The fight went exactly the way that I wanted it to, exactly the way we worked on things in practice,” Watson said afterward. “I kept the distance that I wanted too, and I was constantly working on setting up the power kick out of my jab and it finally hit.”

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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